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News
First Planet-Forming Disk Found in the Environment of a Dying Star
Seattle (January 9th, 2007) Astronomers generally assume that the dusty disks where planets form are found around young stars in stellar nurseries. Now, for the first time, a protoplanetary disk has been found in the environment of a dying star. A team of astronomers is reporting today at the winter meeting of the American Astronomical […]
Read More >First Triple Quasar Discovered at W. M. Keck Observatory
Seattle (January 8th, 2007) Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory have discovered a triple quasar. Quasars are powerful sources of electromagnetic energy, which includes radio waves and light. They are believed to be powered by supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. While roughly 100,000 quasars and dozens of double quasars have been […]
Read More >Astronomers Discover Enormous Halo of Red Giant Stars Orbiting Andromeda
Seattle (January 7th, 2007) Astronomers have found an enormous halo of stars bound to the Andromeda galaxy and extending far beyond the swirling disk seen in images of the famous galaxy, our nearest large galactic neighbor. The discovery, reported at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle, suggests that Andromeda is as much as five […]
Read More >Newfound Diversity in Gamma-Ray Bursts
Berkeley (December 20th, 2006) Two brilliant flashes of light from nearby galaxies are puzzling astronomers and could indicate that gamma-ray bursts, which signal the birth of a black hole, are more diverse than once thought. The two new gamma-ray bursts are of the long variety but, surprisingly, did not show any evidence of supernova activity. […]
Read More >NSF Awards $2 Million Grant to Improve Keck Interferometer
Kamuela (December 18th, 2006) The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the W. M. Keck Observatory $2 million to improve the sensitivity and resolution of the Keck Interferometer. The improvements will enable the instrument to detect Jupiter-sized planets around other stars and test predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity in the chaotic core of […]
Read More >Images of Dwarf Planet Ceres
Pasadena, Calif. (October 11th, 2006) Although Ceres is the largest main-belt asteroid and was the first to be discovered (by G.Piazzi in 1801), its physical properties are still not well understood. While it is expected to have retained a large amount of primordial water ice in its interior, many questions about the composition of its […]
Read More >Keck Observatory’s Ben Berkey Named Volunteer of the Year
Hale Pohaku, Mauna Kea (September 23rd, 2006) The Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station (VIS) annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet took place at Hale Pohaku on September 23, 2006. Forty-four volunteers joined in the celebration. Special awards were presented at the banquet. Keck Observatory employee Benjamin Berkey was named Volunteer of the Year with his amazing lifetime […]
Read More >‘Champagne Supernovae’ Challenges Ideas About How Supernovae Work
Pasadena, Calif. (September 20th, 2006) An international team of astronomers at the California Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered a supernova more massive than previously believed possible. Observations of the supernova were obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope and the Keck telescope, both located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. […]
Read More >W. M. Keck Observatory Science Meeting Takes Place September 15 at UC Irvine
Kamuela (September 5th, 2006) Science reporters are invited to attend the annual Keck Observatory Science Meeting on Friday, Sept. 15 at University of California, Irvine. The meeting features recent results from the Keck I and Keck II 10-meter telescopes on Mauna Kea. The meeting also provides reports on existing instrumentation and the status of future […]
Read More >Elegant spiral arms betray existence of massive binary stars within bright star cluster
Kamuela, Hawaii (August 22nd, 2006) – The five red stars at the heart of the Quintuplet Cluster – one of the most massive clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy – may all be dusty pinwheels, a strange but beautiful type of nebula only recently recognized. Two of the five have been imaged in the near […]
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